Talking about trauma treatment and “The Twelve Laws of Life 2”

Celebrate with flowers! The new book “The Twelve Rules of Life 2” by “Professor Lobster” Jordan Peterson, translated by Shi Xiuxiong and Zhang Pengcheng, is finally published!

In 2019, I signed up for the 100km Trailwalker Charity Walk organized by Oxfam International and completed a 100km mountain hike in less than 32 hours, with three other members of the team. Members collectively raised about $10,000 for charity. It was in preparing for this physical and mental challenge that I came across Jordan Peterson’s “The Twelve Rules of Life”, and gained courage and wisdom in the process of reading, helping me to complete this seemingly impossible task. task. I have since followed Professor Peterson’s video and podcast channels, following his content for a deep psychological self-exploration.

In 2021, when I was quarantined at home in the UK due to the impact of the epidemic, I saw a Weibo post by Shi Xiuxiong, the translator of “The Twelve Rules of Life”, recruiting a co-translator for Jordan Peterson’s new book. For me, who often shares Professor Peterson’s content on Weibo, this is undoubtedly great news. I immediately threw myself into the trial translation work, and shared with Shi Xiuxiong my relationship with Professor Peterson and the positive influence he brought to me via email. It didn’t take long for me to receive the news that I officially joined the translation team, and I was fortunate enough to participate in the translation of chapters 9 to 12 of the new book.

Professor Peterson mentioned in an interview that life is composed of order and disorder. “12 Rules of Life” focuses on disorder, and “12 Rules for Life” 2 focuses on order. The four chapters I have translated are about intimacy, past memories, pragmatism, and grateful life. They are suitable for those who are stuck in the quagmire of life and cannot get rid of themselves, tormented by past memories, troubled about how to educate their children, and do not know how to deal with intimacy. people to read.

Professor Peterson wrote this new book while fighting against the disease during his illness. He relied on the idea of ​​completing this book to support himself to overcome the many difficulties in life. And my situation in translating this book was also quite twists and turns. Living alone overseas, without the company of family and friends, I was entangled in my own future. Reading this book and participating in the whole translation process was also very useful to me. Healing function. Professor Peterson cited many clinical cases to show us how people who have experienced hardships in life can return to the track of life through effective psychological counseling and improvement of self-awareness. At the same time, it also made me realize that many problems are not unique to me, but universal, and there must be solutions, which gave me hope and encouragement to get me through that dark period.

Everyone in the world actually bears a certain burden, and it is very likely that under the bright and beautiful appearance, there is a hard struggle buried in the heart. Compared with the previous book, “12 Laws of Life 2” can feel his compassion even more when I read it, and I also shed tears many times during the translation process. If we can reduce the judgment and resentment of others, and have more empathy; if we can still be grateful when we suffer, then gratitude will be a good medicine for us to get out of the abyss.

In the book, Professor Peterson cites a large number of ancient classics and modern pop culture examples, and through his unique perspective, he leads us on a path of self-reflection and exploration of other possibilities in life. I suggest that readers and friends, when encountering these quoted contents, can return to the source of the contents and experience the symbolic meaning behind these cultural symbols, such as “Why does the animated image of Thomas the Train have a smiling face?” “Why do children Will you be attracted by animations like “Pinocchio”?” “Why does the Bible contain the most primitive stories that established Western civilization?” And so on.

At the same time, I recommend everyone to participate in the activity of “writing a personal growth history” mentioned in Professor Peterson’s book. By examining one’s own life, one realizes that growth is a process that requires courage . Especially when you’re pushing yourself up, but the people around you are stagnant, and you’re more likely to lose friends and partners. But if you don’t take action and take the first step away from an unsuitable environment, you will live with regret and remorse in the long run.

Finally, I would like to thank the two translators for their guidance and help in the translation process, thank the editors of Zhanlu Culture for their sincere feedback, and thank the readers and friends for their tolerance and patience. I hope that after reading this, you will have greater courage and confidence to explore your own life path, and nourish yourself and those around you with love along the way. As Professor Peterson writes, life is an uphill struggle, but it’s worth it in the end .

Method of purchase:
Log in to the official website of Zhanlu Publishing House or click on the Dangdang website to purchase.

The Ezra Klein Show , a podcast channel owned by The New York Times, is a show focusing on current affairs reviews and book recommendations. Anchor Ezra Klein is one of America’s hottest news commentators, columnists and political analysts. His podcast shows are highly sought after for his high-quality interviews and cutting-edge, diverse topics. Especially during the period of the Russian-Ukrainian war, several episodes of current affairs commentary and analysis programs allowed me to gain a macro understanding of this international event from intellectuals and geopolitical experts of different backgrounds.

Listen to Ezra’s interview this week with renowned psychiatrist and best-selling author Bessel van der Kolk to see how trauma reshapes our brains from a neuroscience perspective. Examines the limited effectiveness of past medication and talk therapy, and how to reconnect with oneself and with others by regulating the body and training mindfulness.

After more than 30 years of clinical experience, Bethel van der Koo wrote the book “The Body Keeps the Score” , which explains that the brain will open the self-protection mechanism and bury the memory after human trauma. , refuse to talk about it, or sink into deep self-blame and shame, but the body doesn’t forget the trauma and reminds us with symptoms of the mysteries that need to be dealt with to avoid problems. By reading this book, traumatized people can use a range of new interventions to help themselves or to help others, Bessor says, “There is only one thing that makes the work of trauma possible, and that is with awe Treat the patient’s efforts to survive.”

A brief summary of this podcast:

– In real life, people tend to ignore the damage that trauma can bring to us. Most people think that people who have experienced war or major disasters have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As everyone knows, trauma is everywhere. From domestic violence to school bullying, from long-term neglect in childhood to natural and man-made disasters, from bereavement to lovelorn, from betrayal to isolation, trauma has become one of the most important spiritual problems in modern society.

– The number of people who have experienced trauma is extremely large, has anyone bullied you? Has anyone ever teased you? Have you ever seen a physical conflict with your parents? Have you experienced lovelorn and bereavement? These things that people think are common are actually affecting our brains subtly. Once you are traumatized, it changes your brain circuits, changes the way you see the world, and changes how your body responds to the environment. Stress hormones are constantly eroding your body, increasing your chances of getting sick. Although our rational side thinks that some things are just trivial things, we do not know that the body does not forget.

– Our brains have an animal side (eating and drinking) and a tectonic side (influenced by early experiences). If you were terrified of those who took care of you as a child, chances are you’ll grow up to be very submissive to people in power, hoping they won’t hurt you; full of anger. The reason why you form such an attitude towards the world cannot be cured through conversational psychological counseling. Our brain circuits will not change just because we understand the problem. Think about how difficult it is to integrate knowledge and action.

– Children who have been abused often feel that they are flawed to be treated like this, with a hidden narrative in their minds: if I were a good boy, people would love me; I was molested or violent because I was Was a bad boy and had my own problems. And the price these children pay as they grow up is a profound self-loathing, often despising themselves, and always getting into trouble. This is because they always live with the narrative formed in childhood “I’m not a good boy anyway”, put themselves in danger, and continue to prove “I don’t deserve to be loved, I’m a bad person” through behaviors such as alcoholism, drugs, fights, etc. narrative.

– Shame is the most prevalent emotion among trauma survivors. For example, there is a particularly friendly person who is very nice to you, but you have the idea of ​​killing him, then you will reflect, what the hell happened to me? I must be insane to want to kill this good man, and then there will be a sense of shame. In fact, deep in the brain, the appearance or smell of this person’s voice may awaken the memory of being beaten in your childhood. Your body will still remember this anger, but your brain may choose to forget it for self-protection. Shame is not the same as guilt. The latter is a personal emotion and the former is a social emotion. The thing you are ashamed of is often the truth that you are afraid of being known by others.

– Humans are social animals, and they will recover more easily if they have social support after being traumatized. In a major disaster like 9/11, people are relieved with the help of the collective because they can talk openly, share their emotions and behaviors. Organizations such as Veterans Assistance and Alcoholics Anonymous are also helpful in healing trauma by providing safe spaces where people who have shared painful experiences can talk about their problems openly and without shame.

– Conversational psychotherapy can help you understand why you have a certain reaction to a certain event, but it cannot help you avoid not having the same reaction the next time you encounter the same event. You need to rebuild the connection between your brain and your body, whether it’s yoga, dance, tai chi, or even psychedelic. The currently commonly used method for treating trauma is “Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing”, commonly known as “Eye Movement Reconstruction Method”. The therapist is no longer emotional, reducing negative memory and emotional cognition.

– Another way to heal trauma is to help people experience new realities. People’s memories are very flexible (sometimes even unbelievable), and there must be someone around you who is always telling the same old story, like he caught a big fish once, but every time he told the story, the fish’s The size is always getting bigger unknowingly. But if you interview veterans who have been through the trauma of war, their stories basically don’t change because their bodies bring them back to the situation, triggering feelings of pain and shaping their narrative patterns from the inside out. If you have siblings, try to recall one of the same things that happened to you when you were kids, and you get a different version of the story because people recreate their memories according to their needs. The way to help trauma patients is to first liberate the body, and then recreate the narrative (Professor Lobster’s new book “12 Laws of Life 2” Chapter 9 refers to this method of dealing with pain and trauma).

– Human character and behavior patterns are not static but dynamic. You behave differently with different people, and certain traits in others are likely to trigger some of your hidden emotions and behaviors. Therefore, in interpersonal communication, we should all help each other recognize each other’s blind spots and understand what triggers the unknown memory in the subconscious. Trauma patients tend to refuse social activities because of their shame, see themselves as small and unworthy creatures, shut down their minds and hearts, and try to control their behavior. And hallucinogens (LSD, ayahuasca) open up a whole new universe by loosening the mind’s constraints on innate thought patterns, allowing us to experience deeper emotions and begin assigning meaning and stories to them, opening up a whole new universe in which patients have an intense sense of belonging.

– Dr. Bethel van der Koel suggested that American elementary schools should add “self-regulation” lessons. Our current society is stuck in a state of drug abuse, where people go to take medicine whenever they feel sick, instead of looking into the body and mind to find the cause of the real discomfort. We all know that exercise is good, but there is no complete scientific theory to explain why qigong, yoga and primitive dance can help people cope with trauma and relieve anxiety and stress. Sometimes the way to calm adults is actually very simple, like we do with babies, hugging, touching, and whispering, but this method is not accepted by the modern “manly society”.

Further reading:
1. Talking about the left and right hemispheres, embodied movement and life status
2. Since there is no standard answer to the meaning of life, why not write your own story arbitrarily
3. All things are contemplative and self-satisfied | 10-day Vipassana experience
4. Talking about cutting-edge technology (web3 & NFTs), hallucinogenic therapy and chat rules
5. Talking about life auditing, improving health and exchanging things
6. Talking about the paradox of life, the law of life and open entrepreneurship

(Disclaimer: This article does not provide any medical advice, it is purely a translation summary of the opinions and suggestions of the guests, please refer to as appropriate)